Category Archives: God’s power

For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in Heaven, by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross. Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in His sight, without blemish and free from accusation–Colossians 1:19-22 NIV

The story of the Bible starting in Genesis is that man was created to be with God. Adam and Eve walked with God in the Garden in the cool of the evening. What fellowship, what perfection. Then sin entered, disrupting that bliss. And boom! Separation, alienation, sin, finger pointing, blame, toil and pain. Genesis 3:15 contains a promise that one day someone from Eve’s seed would come and crush Satan’s head. It’s been a long time in waiting…

The best news in all the world is that our alienation from God is ended and we are reconciled to the King and the Judge of all of the universe and of all time. God sent His Son, His only begotten Son Jesus, the One who would contain all of the fullness of Him in bodily form to come and be the perfect sacrifice for our sins. In dying on the cross, shedding His blood, Jesus made peace. The result: God is no longer against us, but for us. His wrath is satisfied. How can it be?

For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things. That is what gave Jesus the authority to reconcile everything to Himself when He died on the cross. When He shed His blood on the cross, He brought peace to everything and to everyone that was totally alienated from God.

When sin entered the world in the Garden of Eden, it alienated humanity from God, nature from God, humanity from each other, and humanity from ourselves. That’s why we need counseling. We can’t even get along with ourselves. Romans 8:19 says that even creation is awaiting its redemption. It was thrown off by sin too. Jesus came to bring reconciliation to all parties by shedding His blood on the cross.

Once we were alienated from God and were enemies in our minds because of our evil behavior. That’s why people can’t stand Christians, can’t stand church, and can’t stand the name of Jesus. It is really because they are enemies of God because of their sin. They don’t know that. John 3:19-20 tells us that men (and women) love the darkness because their deeds are evil. That causes them to hate the light.

Some people can’t stand the idea of the Biblical God, so they just make up their own God. They imagine God to be the way they would like Him to be, which is heavy on loving and very light on judging, except for the people that they don’t like.

But now He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death. Reconciliation involves a change in the relationship between God and man. There has been a change from a state of enmity and fragmentation to one of peace and fellowship. 2 Corinthians 5:18 says that God reconciled us to Himself through Christ. And now the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5). It is all because of the blood of Jesus.

Now we are found to be holy in God’s sight, without blemish and free from accusation. In a jail Bible study, a woman said, “I am nothing but an old junkie.” I said with a fiery determination, “You are not!” She said, “That’s what I feel like. That’s how people treat me.” She has called out to Jesus to save her. She is earnestly attempting to leave her life of drugs behind her, but still has relapses.

I took her and the other women to 1 Corinthians 6:9-11: Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor adulterers..nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

We were all washed, sanctified and justified by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit of our God. We are not old junkies, we are not just ‘sinners saved by grace,’ or anything else that would minimize this reconciled, changed and empowered position. We are washed and clean, friends of God, ready for action!

For from the rising of the sun to its setting My name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to My name, and a pure offering. For My name will be great among the nations, says the Lord of Hosts.Malachi 1:11

Worthy are You to take the scroll and to open its seals, for You were slain, and by Your blood You ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.Revelation 5:9

Back story: I live sandwiched between two Native American reservations. When I moved here just over 25 years ago, I cried out to God that a Gospel witness would be raised up with the Native community. It seemed so dark. The longer I’ve been here, the more I have seen the darkness grip the lives of families in the school system, and more closely in the lives of women I am able to personally interact with about Jesus in the County jail.

Over 75% of the women that I have met with over the past 18 years at the jail have been Native. So many are gripped with addictions, mainly alcohol and meth, but also heroin. They study the Bible in jail, but once they get out, they fall so quickly back into the old party ways. And then they are back in jail again, or prison.

Last fall the outreach committee from our church began to dream and plan to bring in a group from Minneapolis, the “Heart of the City” Band. A woman on the committee heard the leader share their story on the radio about how the group had been going to reservations in South Dakota and God had been using them to reach the Native Americans with the good news of Jesus.

The leader, Dan Adler is a gifted song writer, just “happens” to be from this area. He grew up just down the road from the one reservation and learned to play the guitar in the tiny church down the road from the reservation where we have held prayer meetings in years past that God would raise up a Native church. I called Dan, a cold call, and said: “Dan, come home.” I explained how we have a heart to see the Natives reached just like he told of how they were reaching the ones in South Dakota.

He has written music with Native flute and drumming music and one of the ladies in the group is a Native American who God has rescued from a life of bondage to drugs and trauma from an early age. She has a powerful testimony.

Last weekend, our dreams came to fruition. The multicultural “Heart of the City” band did a two hour concert on the tribal grounds amphitheater, powerfully and beautifully proclaiming the truth of the Gospel to the land that Jesus is Lord and the one true way to God. They proclaimed healing to this land and to their hearts because of the Jesus way. Jesus is not a white Jesus or a black Jesus, or a Native Jesus. On earth He was from the small tribe of Judah, in Israel. But He is for all people everywhere.

This was to a place where this has never been done! About 150 people were there. While not many Natives were in attendance, this was a first fruits, a leading out in worship.

In 2 Chronicles 20 Jehoshaphat and all of Judah faced an attack from the Moabites and the Ammonites. He called out to God, who told him not to be afraid or dismayed, “For the battle is not yours but God’s,” vs. 17. All of Judah bowed in worship to the Lord and praised God in holy attire. And when they began to sing and praise the Lord, God set an ambush against the attackers. The two opposing forces turned on each other and they were routed.

There were so many spoils that it took three days to carry it all off. On the fourth day they assembled in “The Valley of Berucah” which means the Valley of Blessing, for they blessed the Lord (really, the Lord blessed them).

So Jehoshaphat led the battle simply by worshipping and God did the work. “The battle is not yours but God’s.” The battle for the hearts and lives of the Native peoples is not ours, but it is God’s.”

The weapons we fight with are not of the flesh but have divine power to demolish strongholds. 2 Corinthians 10:4 May strongholds be demolished because mighty weapons of mass destruction were dispatched last night!

May this lead the way for a harvest of souls amongst the people of the St. Croix Chippewa Indians.

The blind beggar called out, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” And Jesus said to him, “What do you want Me to do for you?” And the blind man said to him, Rabbi, let me recover my sight.” And Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way. Mark 10:48-52

Have you had weeks and months that just kind of blur together and not much big goes on, and then ‘Boom!’ big stuff happens? Well, this last week was one of those weeks. Let me back up. For about the last four or five months, my left shoulder has been hurting, like bad. It had gotten to the point where I couldn’t even open up my car door without extreme pain kicking in. I suppose it was a pinched nerve or a herniated disc. For most of the last two or three weeks my arm was numb and cold when I woke up in the morning.

I began going to the chiropractor in June two to three times a week. I knew I should have attended to it sooner, just too busy. In early July the chiro said, “I can’t do anything more. You’ve got to go to the doctor. You’ve probably got to get an MRI.” I nodded, but thought: “No way. I’m not going to get an MRI. I’m not going through all of that.”

Second strand of the story: Over the last year, my husband and I have gotten to know a Christian brother better. He’s the kind of guy that’s full of Holy Spirit energy. He’s into dreams and interpreting them, so we like to talk about how God speaks to us. He went on a missions trip to Haiti about a year and a half ago. While there, whoever was leading the group told Brian to take charge of a line of locals who were there for healing. He was to pray for them to be healed. Brian was thrown into just doing it, and God met him. By the end of the day, almost all of the people were healed that he had prayed for.

He came back home thinking, “If God could work through me in Haiti, why can’t he work through me here to pray for people and see them healed?” So he began to pray for people to be healed and things began to happen. Brian began a small group Bible study in our area. He has been inviting us to join us, but it hasn’t been until the last month or so that we have begun to go.

Another guy has been at the small group who also has the gift of healing, Barry. And I sit there with a shoulder that hurts so much I can’t open my car door…I’ve been reading through the Gospels and ‘faith’ seems to be the thing that just keeps jumping out over and over. So after the chiropractor said, “Yup, your shoulder is messed up,” I guess I knew it was time to actually apply faith and open my mouth.

So I did. At the end of the small group, when it was time to pray, Brian asked if anyone needed any prayer. Someone else said something first. And then I finally said, “My shoulder has been really bad lately. I need prayer for it.” So Brian said, “Okay, let’s pray for it.” He prayed for God to heal it, then asked me to move it around. “Nothing.” He prayed for it again. Still nothing. Then another gal said, “Stand up.” Then she had me raise my right arm. She said, “I can feel and see the knot. It’s huge.”

He prayed again. Then he said, “Move it around.” The loudest snap and crack sounded and the gal standing to my right yelled, “The knot is moving! It’s gone!” I moved my arm, and the knot and pinching and pain was gone. That was five days ago. It’s still gone.

There’s more to the story. My husband struggles with anxiety a lot. Like my shoulder pain, it has become more and more distinct and debilitating. He has resisted going to the small group because he’s anxious about having to go to work the next day. My reply is that we all have to go to work the next day, but that doesn’t change anything. He wasn’t going to go this week because of it.

There were guest missionaries there from Albania. They had become Christians through Barry. As Brian was praying for me, the missionary wife was singing quietly over the whole while. I thought it was pretty, but didn’t make much of it. Wayne left as soon as prayer was over. We drove separately so he could do that, our compromise. When I got home, he said: “I wished everyone would have stopped talking when that lady sang. It was like a wave of peace washed over me. I wanted her to sing over me for my anxiety.”

I asked why he didn’t stay then, but his anxiety had gotten the best of him. But he called Barry’s the next day, in an act of faith, and asked if he could come and have them pray for his anxiety. This was even bigger than my shoulder! This anxiety has gripped him all of his life.

So Wayne went, and Barry and his wife and the missionaries prayed over him. The wife sang. Another miracle happened this week. When Wayne left, it was like a load was taken off of him. Peace that he hasn’t known swept over him.

I am not saying that this is a once and for all deal, because fear keeps knocking. As we processed that freedom, we talked about how Jesus is the way and the truth–Satan is a liar. Jesus is all about faith–Satan is all about fear. James 4:7 says to “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” I say he must flee from us when we take authority in Jesus’ name. I rebuke you fear and anxiety in Jesus’ name.

Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness. Isaiah 40:21-23

Do you remember that scene in ‘Titanic’ where Leonardo DiCaprio is on the bow of that great ship and cries out, “I’m the king of the world”? Or, Shirley MacLaine in the movie, “Out On a Limb” when she stood on the shore of the Pacific Ocean and sang, “I am God, I am God, I am God.” (see Fatheralexander.org)

What do you suppose God thinks of that? Frank Peretti humorously imagines in his video, “The Chair,” from Compass International, God hearing this little squeal while Shirley MacLaine is beating her chest and declaring loudly that she’s God, and says, “Hey, Peter, get a load of this,” as He hears a little squeak. In other words, He is God and we’re not. He is the true King of the World.

God sits above the circle of the earth and we are like grasshoppers. He spreads out the heavens like a curtain and brings princes to rulers to nothing. Isaiah 40 goes on to say that scarcely have the kings and princes established themselves when God blows on them and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble.

Proverbs 21:1 tells us that, The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; He turns it wherever He will. God controls the rulers of the world, even the evil dictators. They do His bidding. So when it looks like the world is falling apart, with a variety of situations that threaten to spin out of control—know that God establishes leaders and He brings them down.

We don’t need to fret when we turn on the news. We do need to entrust ourselves into the hands of a God who sits above the circle of the earth, whose Ways are not our ways, and whose thoughts are not our thoughts, as Isaiah 55:8 declares.

The personal application of Isaiah 40 is coming to the conclusion that there is a God who sits on the throne and that this God of the universe if worthy of all of your praise. I was reading about what Steven Hawking believed. He was one of the smartest guys on the planet, yet before his death in March of 2018, he still claimed to be an atheist. He believed that there was a grand design to the universe, but it had nothing to do with God.

Throughout the years, Hawking has made many statements in opposition to religious beliefs. A few are listed below. These quotes are taken from owlcation.com:

“We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the Universe. That makes us something very special.”

“There is a fundamental difference between religion, which is based on authority, and science, which is based on observation and reason. Science will win because it works.”

“We are each free to believe what we want, and it’s my view that the simplest explanation is; there is no God. No one created our universe, and no one directs our fate.“ This leads me to a profound realization that there probably is no heaven and no afterlife either. We have this one life to appreciate the grand design of the universe and for that, I am extremely grateful.”

I look at the contrast between his life and mine. I am not as smart, by a long stretch, but I do know, to borrow the line of a hymn, “that at God’s right hand stands the One who is my Savior.” The same power that enables Jesus to hold the universe together (Colossians 1:17) is the same power that holds me together.

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10

I remember years ago when I was in graduate school for Counseling. I had a professor who was quite difficult. She was prone to zeroing in on a student and then ripping him or her to shreds, seemingly out of the blue. It was my night, and rip she did. It was nearing the end of my program, and there had been many obstacles to my finishing. They seemed to be spiritual obstacles, and I was trying to march through them valiantly.

But this rip fest shook me. I got home and I fell apart. I cried out to God and I said something to the effect of, “God, I have to know you’re there. Give me something.” And this is the verse He gave me, this exact verse. He spoke it loud and strong to me. It meant everything to me. In that moment I knew He would get me through that battle and whatever battle stood ahead of finishing. And He did.

Fast forward almost thirty years later. I was praying with a woman in jail who had just been sentenced to 25 years in prison. What she had done warranted it. When she had come into the county jail, she was a mess. But she was leaving a new creation. Jesus had gotten a hold of her.

We had read and claimed this verse before she went to her sentencing and now we read it again before she went to prison. Does she still have a ways to go? Yes. But Jesus goes with her. This verse has been a mainstay so many times!

Can you remember a time when you were truly fearful? Where what faced you was way more than you could handle? To be dismayed means to be horrified, unnerved, filled with fear and distress and being at a loss at how to deal with something. This promise is like Superman coming in for a rescue, but Superman isn’t real. God is. And that’s great news. God takes a hold of you with His righteous right hand.

Get this: The creator of the universe promises to subdue our fears, to strengthen us and to uphold us with His righteous right hand. He was promising this to Israel collectively, but 2 Corinthians 1:20 tells us, All the promises of God find their ‘yes’ in Jesus. That means God’s character and promises were fulfilled in Jesus for all of us.

What about God’s righteous right hand? Exodus 15:6 reads, Your right hand, O Lord is glorious in power, Your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy. And Exodus 15:12 goes on to say, You stretched out Your right hand; the earth swallowed them. And check out Deuteronomy 33:2: The Lord came from Sinai and dawned from Seir upon us; He shone forth from Mount Paran; He came from the ten thousands of holy ones, with flaming fire at His right hand.

When John saw Jesus, he fell at His feet as though dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying ‘Fear not, I am the first and the last,’ as Revelation 1:17 reports. Jesus strengthened John with His right hand.

Throughout the book of Revelation Jesus uses His right hand, like in Rev. 5:1, in the right hand of Him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. It seems to symbolize strength, sovereignty and authority.

When you are in over your head, call on God, reminding yourself and God that you are His child and that He has promised to strengthen you, to help you and take a hold of you with His righteous, strong and ruling right hand. Write this verse out and post it everywhere, quote it to yourself and tell Satan to get lost. You can take this promise to the bank.

I endeavor to bring the Gentiles to obedience of the faith, by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God…so that I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ; and this I make it my ambition to preach the gospel not where Christ has already been named. Romans 15:18-20

That was Paul’s gospel ambition, to go where ‘no man has gone before’ to preach about Jesus. He had dreams and he was fueled by the power of the Holy Spirit. A Gospel Ambition. That sounds so lofty, reserved for heavy hitters like Paul, or pastors and missionaries.

Maybe the rest of us get ‘life ambitions.’ Now we call them ‘bucket lists,’ after the Morgan Freeman movie. It doesn’t have to be spiritual, at least that’s what we think. So our bucket lists include things like: seeing the Grand Canyon, or running a half marathon, or getting on Jeopardy (that’s mine).

**But does God put spiritual bucket lists on our hearts? Ephesians 2:10 tells us, “We are HIs workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which He has prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” The NIV words it “that God has prepared in advance for us to do.” He’s given us a mission just like He gave Paul. It might not be as sweeping and far reaching as his, but my point is that God gives us all a ‘Gospel ambition’ a life purpose, and He burns it on our hearts.

That means we don’t have to look hard to find it. We know what it is. And God gives us the Holy Spirit to give us the power and the boldness to carry it out. That’s what Acts 1:8; 4:31 and Colossians 1:27-29 say. It wasn’t just for guys back then, it’s for us too. Jesus lives in us and gives us His power, energy and boldness.

I occasionally get dreams that I know have spiritual significance. I had one this week. I knew that there was something to the people and events in the dream, so I sought out a friend that is a pretty good interpreter and encourager. One thing he has taught me is that if I have a dream about somebody else, I need to tell that dream to the person because God has a message for them. God has been speaking to me about several things since that dream, including not letting me back pedal from my Gospel ambition.

In my dream I was walking a co-worker’s father home. It was a snowy evening, and I was walking him home on a trail to his daughter and son-in-law’s cabin. They had the fire going and they welcomed him in. The father and I didn’t talk, nor did the couple invite me in. My concern was that he got ‘home’ safely and I was successful. I have never had a personal connection with this father until about three weeks ago when I rode with him and several others to a sporting event. He is almost 80, so no spring chicken.

As I turned to head back down the snowy trail, the sun was going down almost completely and I saw that I had a head lamp. My co-worker, who is not a Christian, called out, “Don’t you love those head lamps? I have one every where I go.” But within a few steps it dimmed. I looked down the path and about 30 yards ahead there were four or five bears in my path. I saw them, they didn’t see me. My head flashlight went out completely and I laid down on the ground and back pedaled up hill and woke up.

The father that I walked home is not a Christian. One of his daughters is, and I felt led to call her and ask about his spiritual state. The night before my dream they had just had a family meeting to say that her mother had breast cancer and they were talking about where their burial plots were. He is a skeptic and a debater. She said, “I won’t be in that grave long.” He said, “I’ll be in that hole for a long time.” He needs Jesus.

As she told me this, the Michael W. Smith song played strongly in my head, “I’ll Lead You Home.” Some of the words: “It won’t be long before your sun goes down, just leave it to Me, I’ll lead you home; A troubled mind and a doubter’s heart; You wonder how you ever got this far; Leave it to Me, I’ll lead you home. Hear Me calling, Hear Me calling…”

I had just watched the movie, “A Case for Christ.” It’s about Lee Strobel, the big skeptic who tried to disprove Christianity and ended up becoming a Christian in the process. The father was a lawyer and reads a lot. I ordered the book and am going to give it to the Christian daughter to give to him this next week when they get back from a trip. We’ll see where it leads from there.

The bears in the path are/could be resistance, nay sayers, overbearing people who would cause me to back pedal and to not be bold–hence, my light for the Lord dims and goes out. It doesn’t shine and doesn’t do it’s work. That so hits the nail on the head. It is so easy to back pedal and avoid confrontation. It took boldness just to call the Christian daughter out of the blue and tell her that I had this dream and to ask her about her dad.

When I read these verses about the Holy Spirit being the one who gives us the boldness, as well as the ambition to be used by God in the first place, it gives me the confidence that God will do a work in this father’s heart before He dies. He will lead Jim home. I just get to walk with him down the path.

For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 1 Corinthians 1:17-18

Oh how we try to rely on everything but the simple message of the cross to get by and to get ahead in life! We rely on eloquent wisdom, fancy words, glitzy images, good looks, muscle, craftiness, slick tricks, sometimes manipulation…anything but the simple message of the cross. It’s a fitting Easter thought–the cross. I need to return to it again and again.

In reading through Isaiah 53, and back through the corresponding Gospel passages, I am struck with the basic message:

Jesus was sinless. Pilate said he found no fault in Jesus (Luke 23:4). Hebrews 4:15 states, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” In other words, Jesus never sinned. That’s why He was able to be the sacrifice for our sins.

The sinless one took our sins. Back to Isaiah 53:4-5, we find that Jesus bore our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His stripes we are healed. That’s the good news of Easter. Jesus paid the price for sin so we don’t have to pay it, if we allow Him to.

Jesus gave up His life willing for us. Sin brings death and demands that a price be paid. We’ve all sinned, and we all deserve death. Isaiah 53:6 says, All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned–every one–to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Jesus said in John 10:18 No one takes (my life) from Me, but I lay it down of my own accord. Jesus willingly gave up His life to pay the price for our sin.

This is where true love and peace are found. Romans 5:8 proclaims, But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. And 1 John 4:10: In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the wrath satisfier (my word) for our sins. And Romans 5:1 so marvelously declares, Since we have justified by faith, we have peace with God. There is no other way to find peace deep down inside than to get this straight.

This is the message of the cross. 1 Corinthians 1 goes on to say that God entrusted the foolish, the weak, the low and despised to carry this message to shame the strong, the wise and the mighty so that none might boast in the presence of God. God picked me, and for that I am eternally grateful. And I get to tell others this simple, yet powerful message, not with eloquent words of wisdom lest I empty the cross of its power.

For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel not with words of human wisdom, let the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. 1 Corinthians 1:17

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. I Corinthians 1:18

God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; He chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong…the lowly things and the despised things and the things that are not to nullify the things that are so that no one may boast before Him. It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus. 1 Corinthians 1:27-30

I got a flier in the mail this week from a Bible study company and flipped through it. One page was an ad for a cruise with “your favorite Bible teacher.” Another page, ads for an event in several cities with a dozen or so attractive thirty something women on a pretty topic. No older women, less attractive, handicapped ones could speak? “Stop it,” I thought.

Then in my reading through the Bible in a year chronologically I sat down to these verses in 1 Corinthians. It took me back to the two ladies that I became a Christian through in the tiny country Vacation Bible School fifty some years ago. They used a flannel board, a flannel Jesus and song lyrics written on tag board. They persistently talked about Jesus with no other props. They came to my community with no other Gospel witness for over 35 years, armed with the love of Jesus and a commitment to serve Him like no other I have seen.

They wrote to me every month from the time I was 13 until I was almost 30. They discipled me in the faith and would call me “their Timothy.” They probably wouldn’t have made it as headliners at a women’s weekend. Nor would I. That’s not how God made me and that’s not where God has planted me. And somehow, that’s how He has made the message of the cross to be. It’s not to be glitzy or glamorous, lest it be emptied of its power.

It is not to be bedazzled, though we want to pretty it up. A friend of mine told how she had a mentor named Ethyl who had the gift of faith. She would go fishing with Ethyl and Ethyl would know where to fish because God would tell her. Ethyl would do more big things than just bring home big catches of fish, she would allow God to use that gift of faith all over the place to do big things through her. Only thing was, she never drew attention to herself.

When she was old, she wrote a little book about all of the things that God did and she called it, “Ethyl Nobody.” This was years before self publishing and marketing, so I haven’t been able to find that book. I wish I could. I’ve thought about that title, and have thought that one day I’d like to write a book like that before I die and title it, “Martha Nobody.” God has done so many things in and through me, just like He did with the dear old ladies with the flannel board, a flannel Jesus, and cardboard song lyrics.

Better than that, they were armed with the message of the Gospel, the love of Jesus, and the conviction that if they kept telling it that God would change lives and eventually it would change the world. It has changed my world.

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on things of the Spirit. Romans 8:5

Do not be drunk with wine, but be filled with the Spirit. Ephesians 5:18

Walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. Galatians 5:16

In our women’s Sunday school class, we are studying the book by JD Greear, Jesus Continued…Why the Spirit Inside You is Better Than Jesus Beside You (Zondervan 2014). Greear is writing to people who, like him, come from a background where the Holy Spirit has been more of a doctrine than a person of the Trinity. One of his quotes is:

“Many Christians might have heard of the Holy Spirit in a doctrinal sense but they have no real interaction with or dependence on Him. Functionally they live in ways ‘unaware’ that there is a living, moving Holy Spirit. They have all but excised the Holy Spirit from the Trinity; instead they functionally believe in the Father, Son, and the Holy Bible.”

I lead the Sunday school class, and one woman’s question was kind of challenging his doctrinal position, wondering if Greear believed that we receive the Holy Spirit at new birth from another quote: “So, are you speaking the Word of God to others? If not, can you really claim to be filled with the Spirit of God?”

My short answer was that from everything else that JD Greear has written in his book, I believe that he is orthodox, most likely believing that we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit when we become Christians. However, most people do not walk in the realization of the fullness of the Spirit, and that is what this book is about.

When it says in Acts 6:5 that they picked Stephen to help serve the widows, Luke noted that he was ‘full of the Holy Spirit.’ That must have meant that others weren’t as full of the Spirit. ‘What makes someone full of the Spirit, or more filled with the Spirit than others?’ was my question to the group.

I’ve been thinking a lot more about this during the week. Paul spent considerable time writing about walking in the Spirit (Gal. 5:16), setting our minds on things of the Spirit (Romans 8:5), not grieving the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30), not quenching the Spirit (1 Thess. 5:19), and praying at all times in the Spirit (Eph. 6:18). This tells me that this tendency to set our minds on things of the flesh and live as if the Christian life depends on us is not new.

Paul battled this when he wrote the book of Galatians. He questioned in Gal. 3:3, “Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit are you now being perfected by the flesh?” Why don’t we talk about the work of the Holy Spirit more? Why do we rely on the flesh instead?

It’s kind of like a friend of mine. We were at a meeting together, in the middle of a cold winter. We both had the same model and year of vehicles. I pointed my key fob out of the window with my remote starter and started my vehicle to warm it up. She said, “I wish mine could do that.” I looked at her and said, “I’m sure you can. Give me your fob.” She did and she just about flipped when I started her car too. She had a remote starter for two years and didn’t know it.

Isn’t that how it is with the Holy Spirit? He lives within us and is ready to fight the flesh battle for us if we would just call on Him. He is ready to speak to us, empower us, lead us and do great things through us. Do you just need to know that you have Him waiting to be called upon?

In some ways, it’s not about whether we have the Spirit or not, it’s about whether the Spirit has us. Are we willing to surrender to Him, wait for His voice, draw near and go where He tells us to go?

For it is You who lights my lamp; the Lord my God lightens my darkness. For by You I can run against a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall. Psalm 18:28-29

This Psalm of David was written after the Lord had rescued him from the hand of all his enemies, including Saul who was bent on trying to kill him. David led Israel in battle many times, so picture this being the words of a military general who had survived several tours. Or, picture the battle being the tests and trials we face on a continuous basis.

For it is God who lights my lamp and lightens my darkness. Isaiah 50:10 admonishes, “Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the voice of His servant? Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God.” Check out what happens if we don’t in verse 11: “Behold, all you who kindle a fire, who equip yourselves with burning torches! Walk by the light of your fire, and by the torches that you have kindled! This you have from My hand: you shall lie down in torment.” Ouch!

The more happy companion verse would be Psalm 119:105, “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”If you don’t know what to do and feel like you’re in the dark, consult God. Pray and read the Bible. Don’t run to friends or just stick with your own wisdom.

For by You I can run against a troop and leap over a wall. There are days that I feel that I’m getting attacked on every side. I get people who threaten that if I don’t do what they want, they’ll go to Facebook. I have to stand them down and call them out. I gulp, I pray and I stand, not backing down. By God I can stand against illogical, unreasonable parents. I can find ideas where there aren’t any, because of God’s help.

Do you ever feel like you are in over your head? Maybe you are overwhelmed because the odds are stacked against you or there is someone opposing you that seems unbeatable. With God, all things are possible. We serve a God that is an odds beater, that champions the underdog and hears the cry of the lowly. He equips us with strength (Psalm 18:32) and gives strength to the weary (Isaiah 40:29-31). Call on God and trust Him with your challenges and obstacles.

God, I am calling out to You today. Please give me the strength to deal with the problems I am facing. I am asking You to help me. Give me courage to do things Your way and not mine. I will trust you with the consequences. I don’t know which choices to make today, so would you direct my steps and give me the wisdom when it comes to taking action? Your Word says that You give light in the darkness and that with Your help I can leap over a high wall. Work and act today in Jesus’ name. Amen!